All over CPAC, when people talked about the performance of Scott Walker, the goggle-eyed homunculus now employed as the assistant director of employee relations at the subsidiary of Koch Industries once known as the state of Wisconsin, all anyone wanted to talk about was how Walker's union-busting, and labor-bashing, and overall goggle-eyed homuncularizing had "turned the whole state around," and what a model subsidiary Wisconsin was for the rest of the United Corporate Affiliates Of America.

There's not a lot of sunshine in these numbers. Wisconsin has been bleeding private sector jobs for the past six months. This makes Wisconsin very much unlike the rest of the country, and even the rest of the states in its immediate region, most of which share the same kind of post-industrial problems that afflict Wisconsin. See this:

Wisconsin has lost more private-sector jobs (an estimated 27,700) than any state in the country since the middle of last year (July through December), according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Only one other state, Missouri, is close, losing about 19,000 jobs in that stretch.

Wisconsin's job losses can't be readily explained as part of a broader pattern involving Midwestern or industrial states. Wisconsin's neighbors are all outperforming the state when it comes to job growth over the past six months. Wisconsin also lags in some broader measures and forecasts. The most recent leading indicators for each of the 50 states, compiled by the Philadelphia Federal Reserve, identify Wisconsin as one of only six states expected to contract in the first half of this year.

Walker declined an interview request...

Yeah, I'll bet he did.

...but he and his administration have painted a much brighter economic picture than these numbers suggest.

Yeah, I'll bet they have.

However, they're not lacking for cheap alibis:

Walker blamed economic and political uncertainty in a late January interview with Mike Gousha on WISN-TV - including the uncertainty created by the recall effort against him and GOP lawmakers. "Other states don't have recalls," Walker said, before adding, "That's not it alone, believe me... There are multiple factors."

Democracy. A Drag On Business Since 508 B.C.

The only silver lining is that, if this kind of thing continues, the Koch Brothers may have to go broke trying to keep their meat puppet in office next fall.